Born of Obsidian
by Orpheus Kidwell
Summary: Rewrite of Obsidian Fox. At the age of four, Naruto is taken in by the daughter of the first Hokage, a woman who is also an Uzumaki. She takes him in and teaches him both the ways of the world and of the shinobi. What does the Elemental Nations have in store for Naruto, but more importantly, what does Naruto have in store for the villages that wronged him and those he loves?
1. Prologue

**Born of Obsidian**

**Heya all! As I'm sure you may have noticed, Obsidian Fox has been deleted. The reason is quite simple. SleepArypsure, the original challenger who told me to write Obsidian Fox, has agreed to become my co-writer on the re-write. After much planning, I am finally ready to release it and it looks much better than the original, in my eyes at least.**

**Now, while the basic premise of Naruto joining Numagakure, the pairing for NarutoxHaku and other factors remain the same, this story has many major differences. I won't go into much detail on the differences except that this fic will cover pre-canon starting with Naruto age 4 and continue through an AU canon.**

**By the time Numagakure is created, it will need many OC's of all ranks, so I will request now; I need time to find places for all of them. The format for OC's will be at the AN on the bottom and the more information I have, the better. More background means more places I can use them in the story.**

**I believe that is all except for this.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other elements that may appear. I only own my OC's, original jutsu, original clans, original bloodlines, etc. unless specifically specified as belonging to someone else.**

**Prologue**

**"Family means no one gets left behind or forgotten."**

**-David Ogden Stiers **

She could feel it. It was so hard not to, with her abilities that is. Just as her mother had the ability to sense negative emotions, she had been born with the same ability. It was obviously a residual effect of having a jinchuriki mother. Just as most of her abilities were a residual effect of either her mother or father. It was just how bloodlines worked.

It was those very same bloodlines which caused her siblings to be targeted. Those very same bloodlines which caused her mother's clan to be eradicated. Those very same bloodlines that made her father's clan arrogant in their power. It was her bloodlines which made her choose to leave Konoha for good after her mother's clan was killed, to join the Temple and to become the caretaker of it after everyone else died.

She could sense the very same bloodlines within his chakra. But... none of the arrogance? He felt... warm. Except for that small amount of darkness she could feel in his stomach, she recognized the chakra though. How could she not when she shared a small amount of that chakra herself? So... this was the boy. The boy which was her distant cousin on both sides of her family. The son of that princess who had been in Konoha and given her mother's burden simply because of her bloodline.

This... was Uzumaki Naruto.

She could see dirt caked in his spiky red hair... and blood. Someone had recently opened a wound on the left side of his head, a rock used as a projectile no doubt. His skin was tan, at least, where it wasn't bruised that is. His clothes were hard to describe, mostly because they were merely rags, torn rags that showed more bruises underneath. There were no scars though. She didn't think to find any with both the Uzumaki healing factor and having a biju who would no doubt speed up even that regenerative ability. His feet... not even any sandals to protect them from cold or the dangers that could litter the ground.

This was Uzumaki Naruto?

He was the son of the most loved kage and an Uzumaki princess. He shouldn't be treated like this. True... she was not one to think positively towards the powerful clans getting preferential treatment simply because of a bloodline and no hard work but this...

This was just sick. Abusing a helpless child because of a grudge towards one of the biju? The biju were mere constructs of chakra given consciousness. How could harming the warden do anything but increase the prisoner's chance of escape? Were the denizens of her former village truly this idiotic?

Apparently so. Why has her clan fallen to such treatment while the others... the Uchiha... those thieving bastards who use their accursed eyes to copy the skills of others without any regard for the work it took to gain those skills were treated so much better?

The woman sighed and knelt down beside the fallen boy and moved his hair from his face, tenderly stroking his cheek. "You don't deserve this treatment..." She whispered. As if her voice was some sort of medication, the four year old boy's eyes fluttered and opened, revealing azure orbs.

He slowly sat up as he held his cranium. "Ow... my aching head..." He muttered. "Where am I?" He asked. Though it was to himself, the woman answered.

"You are inside the Uzumaki Mask Temple outside Konohagakure no Sato." As her voice left her lips, Naruto turned to her and jumped back in fear.

"I'm sorry!" He immediately apologized, though for what was anyone's guess. "I... don't hurt me please!" He begged as he hit the wall and a few of the masks on walls idly swung. The woman smiled.

"I won't hurt you." She said soothingly as she slowly knelt beside the boy. "Why would I hurt my family?" Naruto's eyes widened as he looked at the woman.

"Wh-what?" He asked.

"My name is Uzumaki Boshihari, little Naru-chan." Boshihari explained with an affectionate smile. The woman was tall as other Uzumaki women with the blood-red hair common to her clan. Atop her head was a conical straw hat and her eyes were a violet, her left eye at least. The right one had a black bandage over it. As for her clothing, she was dressed in a crimson yukata with golden, Chinese-style dragons crawling beneath her golden obi, golden scroll patterns on the hem of the bottom and she also wore two bracelets made of prayer beads. The left hand had white beads and the right had black.

"H-how do you know my name?" Naruto asked cautiously.

Boshihari smiled. "The plants told me." She said with a smile as she touched a flower growing above the younger Uzumaki's head. "My father passed on his bloodline to me, but my mother's blood enhanced it. And Shokuton (Flora Release) isn't even my specialty. But... enough about that."

Naruto looked at the woman before him in curiosity. His intrigue left his paranoia momentarily forgotten "Your father?" He asked.

"Oh... you haven't started the Academy yet, have you? How silly of me!" Boshihari said with a soft smile. "My father was Senju Hashirama and my mother was Uzumaki Mito." Naruto's eyes widened at that information. Even his young mind knew that Hashirama was the Shodaime Hokage and one of the most powerful shinobi of all time.

"B-but..." Naruto paused. "You don't look old!" He exclaimed. And he was right. If Hashirama created Konoha one hundred years ago...

"Oh, thank you." Boshihari said with a grin. "That would be thanks to kaa-san. You see, we Uzumaki have a very extensive bloodline. One of the aspects of it is called the Seishun no Izumi (Fountain of Youth). Basically, for every five years after I turn fifteen I only age a single year. After I turn twenty-one, I only age one year for every ten. It's where the legendary Uzumaki longevity originated. So, while in reality I was born well over eighty years ago... well, I'm physically only twenty-four." Naruto looked at the woman in amazement.

"That's so cool!" He shouted. "Wait... does that mean... that I...?" Boshihari smiled and ruffled the young boy's hair, uncaring of its filth.

"Yes. You have inherited the Uzumaki Blood as well. I am also a sensor-type and from your chakra, I can tell you have unlocked it completely. I can also tell you have another bloodline... one I indeed share with you." Naruto looked at her patiently. "I see the natural ability you will have to unlock quite a few sub-elements. I can feel chakra affinities and know yours without even needing any chakra paper." Naruto's face split in a grin.

"R-really? I'll be able to learn awesome ninjutsu?"

Boshihari tapped her chin. "Well... I don't know about that." She said and Naruto's eyes fell.

"Oh... because I'm an idiot and no one would ever want me as a student, right?" He asked, dejected. Boshihari placed a hand on the boy's cheekhin and tilted his head to look up until their eyes met.

"No... while you were unconscious and I was healing you... I put on a mask." Boshihari admitted, showing Naruto one of the many masks of the Temple. It looked like an owl's face. "The Athena mask grants the wearer the ability to see into someone's mindscape if physical contact is made with an unconscious body. I used it and I saw your memories... everything from when you were watched by ANBU as an infant up until today, when the matrons kicked you out of the orphanage and you were chased through Konoha as villagers threw things at you. I saw it all... how you lost them in the forest, but were still terrified and only got to this temple by pure adrenaline. When it ran out... you lost your ability to stay awake and that's when I found you. I healed you... and I want to ask you one, single question, Naru-chan."

The redhead looked up at his distant cousin and nodded, showing he was listening.

"I am leaving this village now that I've seen just how far my father's people have fallen. I exiled myself to this temple after my mother's clan and village was destroyed because of Tobirama-baka's neglect of saving them. Now that I see just what they will do to innocents... I am leaving the village for good. My only question is... would you like to accompany your only family on that journey instead of being hated and abused here?" She asked and Naruto's eyes watered.

Maybe it was the fact that as a child, he could tell she was sincere. Maybe it was because he was still traumatized from the hatred of the villagers and wanted to cling to someone kind. Maybe it was a mature decision made by a child who couldn't comprehend why he did it, but just knew by instinct it was the right thing to do. No one will ever know why Naruto said it, but it didn't change a single thing.

"Of course, Boshihari-nee-chan!"

**And that's a wrap!**

**So, what'd you guys think of the prologue? I really hope it was intriguing enough for you to stick with me as I re-write this.**

**I would like to think SleepArypsure for the help she gave me on this as well as for providing me with the OC Senju-Uzumaki Boshihari. **

**Now, as for the format to send OC's.**

**Name: OC's name**

**Age: OC's age. Include a physical age if the OC looks older/younger than they are.**

**Moniker: A nickname that they are known for. i.e. Sharingan no Kakashi.**

**Clan Affiliation: Does the character belong to a clan? Canon or original?**

**Village Affiliation: What village do they work for? If they are a missing-nin, use (formerly)**

**Other Affiliations: Does the OC belong to another group? Puppet Corps, ROOT, ANBU, Medic nin, etc.**

**Status: Clan Head/heir/heiress, ninja rank, missing-nin**

**Elemental Affinities: Any and all affinities they are capable of using to any degree. Fire, Wind, Lightning, Earth, Water, Yin, Yang and any sub-elements.**

**Dojutsu: Do they have a dojutsu? If not canon, explain.**

**Physical Bloodline: Do they have a bloodline that is not dojutsu or a sub-element? Explain.**

**Contract(s): Any Summoning Contracts?**

**Taijutsu: Hand-to-hand combat. What is the rank of their skill (D, C, B, A, S). Small explanation of their style and skills in this area.**

**Genjutsu: Illusion Arts. What is the rank of their skill (D, C, B, A, S). Small explanation of their style and skills in this area.**

**Ninjutsu: Ninja arts that require handseals to perform and may be elemental in nature. What is the rank of their skill (D, C, B, A, S). Small explanation of their style and skills in this area.**

**Bukijutsu: Weapon Arts. What is the rank of their skill (D, C, B, A, S). Small explanation of their style and skills in this area.**

**Fuinjutsu: Sealing Arts. Level (1-10) of the OC's skill in Storage, Barrier, Medical, Space-Time and Battle Seals. Please be realistic.**

**Rank: D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS-rank.**

**Wanted: Is there a bounty for your OC in any village? How much? What was the crime?**

**Physical Description: Give an accurate description of your character's appearance including eye color, hair color, hair style, clothing, skin tone and visible weapons/tools.**

**Personality: How does your OC normally act in every day situations? In extreme circumstances (such as a life-or-death situation).**

**Bio: Give your character some background. Be as short or long as you wish, just know that more detailed background's are best for characters who will be involved in the story on a regular basis.**

**Okay, that's the format to use. Also, if you'd like to see your OC with a canon character, please put that in the review/PM you used to send the character and if it is within reason I will do my best. Some characters have already had pairings decided and if you request someone who has been, I will be sure to send a PM to registered users or answer your review in the following chapter for guests.**

**Orpheus out! Ja ne!**


	2. Chapter I: Leaving the Temple

**Born of Obsidian**

**Will0Whisper: Thanks for telling me. I'll change it.**

**Guest: Not necessarily, she is Hashirama's daughter but that doesn't mean Tsunade is her daughter.**

**Guest: No. Naruto will not be with anyone besides Haku.**

**Chapter I: Leaving the Temple**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other elements that may appear. All OC's, original jutsu, original clans, original villages, original bloodlines and other fanon elements are to be considered either SleepArypsure's or mine unless specifically stated.**

**Quote of the Day: "You can't blame someone for leaving if you never gave them a reason to stay."**

"What are you doing, Boshihari-nee-chan?" The redheaded woman smiled to the boy as she unrolled a scroll of her own making.

"Well, you see these masks hanging up on the walls?" She asked and the younger Uzumaki nodded. "Actually, they are artifacts of our family with unique abilities for the wearer. I am not about to leave any of these here for an enemy of ours to just take. So I am going to take them with us." Naruto nodded but then a look of curiosity entered his eyes. "What is it?"

Naruto hesitated slightly, afraid of looking stupid, but asked anyways. "Ano... if you want to put them up... why'd you take out a scroll?" He asked rather shyly. Boshihari looked at him strangely. He was already four.. he should know at least the basics of...

That's right! Konoha stunted the education he would've had with the clan. She would just have to fix that. "Well, it's quite simple, Naruto-chan." Boshihari said with a comforting smile and motioned him to approach the scroll. He did so.

"You see, ninja can use on of five branches of jutsu. Of course, taijutsu, genjutsu and ninjutsu are the most famous of them. A funny thing is... the last two were the specialty of our clan more than anything else. Bukijutsu is the art of weaponry and every Uzumaki can use at least one type of sword by the time they are genin and perhaps another weapon as well." Boshihari held out her hand and a long staff of oak appeared. "Personally, I prefer to use a staff of chakra wood I create myself and top it off with a blade..." as she spoke, a ninjato length blade of black material sprouted from the tip of the staff. "of Obsidian."

Naruto watched her in amazement. "That's... so cool!" He shouted. "Will I be able to do stuff like that?" He asked and Boshihari smiled, nodding once.

"I will train you to fully utilize all your abilities as we travel." Boshihari stated. "The other art which our clan was extremely proficient in using, and was in fact what we are most famous for, happens to be fuinjutsu." Naruto tilted his head.

"Art of... Sealing?" He asked. Boshihari nodded.

"Exactly. Seals are extremely useful, and extremely complex. There are actually five branches of the art. The hardest of them happens to be space-time seals, a branch which directly affects the target's position in space-time and can be anything from seals affecting gravity to teleportation of an object or person to another location. Others use the discipline for medical seals, a type of seal which accelerates the healing process of a target or can alternatively be used to harm a person from the inside.

"The third branch of fuinjutsu is barrier seals and is exactly how it sounds. By writing certain seals, you can literally create barriers to keep things out... or keep them in, a certain area. The fourth branch is one of the two most widely used disciplines of fuinjutsu, battle seals. These include everything having to do with tags and their varying effects, though the most common happens to be those of the exploding variety."

Naruto nodded but stopped. "What about the last one?" He asked.

"Right, the final branch is the one I am using now. It is the most extensive of all the arts of sealing... storage seals. With them, someone could contain everything from a simple kunai to... a demon." Boshihari said off-handedly, mostly to gauge Naruto's reaction to the last bit. When she saw there was none, she inwardly nodded. He didn't know of his burden quite yet. She would need to change that at some point, for sure.

"Wow... that's so cool. But... how does it work?" The curious boy asked as he tried to decipher the scroll's writings. Boshihari smiled.

"Well, look here. This here is the kanji for Storage, you see?" She pointed it out, to which he nodded. "And this one right here is the kanji for Solid, here is the one for Inanimate, and this one is the kanji for Object. There is also these lines called connectors between Solid, Inanimate and Object, and then a connector from the triangle that is formed from the first three and Storage."

"So... the first three are... connected?" Naruto asked and Boshihari nodded, motioning for him to go on. "That means they... are one?" She nodded again. "So... instead of three different words... they become a phrase?"

"Exactly!" Boshihari exclaimed. "They are now the phrase "Solid, Inanimate Objects" instead of three separate terms. And Storage is a one-word phrase, not a term... when put together, the two phrases depict the objective for which the seal was created. "The Storage of Solid, Inanimate Objects.""

"But... there are more kanji and connectors." Naruto noted.

"Perceptive. I only showed you a small part, the trigger seal. This small area of space triggers the rest of the matrix, or the writings of a seal that make it function. I won't go into the rest now, as we haven't the time, but I will be teaching you simpler storage seals than this one I made myself and we will work you up to more advanced seals of all five branches."

Naruto grinned. "Yeah! Awesome!" Boshihari smiled at his attitude but then turned her attention to the masks all over the room. There were 108 in total in the entire temple... each with a different set of abilities.

"Now... we'll be leaving after I get these masks stored in the scroll, alright?" The younger Uzumaki nodded his assent as Boshihari concentrated. Naruto could feel a strange pressure then... it seemed to center around Boshihari's right palm and it seemed to... tighten, was the only term he could find.

It became tighter and tighter until... it exploded. In awe, Naruto watched as a single chain extended from Boshihari's palm and then split into four, which split four more times, then twice, twice more and it split more and more until over one hundred chains were present.

Boshihari was sweating as she concentrated hard and each chain shot out and took hold of a single mask before placing them in certain areas on the scroll with different names for the masks and sealing them within. The chains retracted back into her and she sighed in relief, wiping the sweat from her brow and feeling a sense of accomplishment at Naruto's look of awe.

"Whoa..." he breathed out. "That was so cool..." Boshihari smirked and ruffled his hair.

"Glad you think so. That's an ability of the Uzumaki Clan's bloodline. Admittedly, I am not well-versed at using it, but I am still able to use it to some degree. I believe you will be able to use it to a far greater degree though." She said as she rolled up her scroll and strapped it to her back, walking out of the temple with her distant cousin following right behind her.

"Why is that, Boshihari-nee?" He asked.

"Because of your mother, of course." She said, and it had just the effect she was hoping.

"My... kaa-san? You knew my parents?" He nearly screamed. The redhead nodded as they reached the forest and she frowned, seeing the trees and calculated the fastest way to move.

"I knew of them. Here, get on my back." She told him as she crouched down and removed her scroll, sealing it in a tattoo on underneath the sleeve of her clothing. Naruto jumped up and wrapped his arms around her neck as she held his legs to keep him on.

"So... you didn't know them?" Boshihari shook her head once and channeled chakra to her legs, jumping up into a tree and began to dash through the treetops like any experienced ex-ANBU Commander of Konoha would be able to.

"I did know their reputations. Uzumaki Kushina was your mother... she was a SS-rank kunoichi and ANBU Commander during the Third Shinobi World War known for her barrier seals, her Suiton ninjutsu and her swordsmanship. She was most known though for her ability to use the Uzumaki Chakra Chains as if they were second nature to her. Because of this... she was feared around the entire Elemental Nations and her Bingo Book entry gave the warning that she was not to be approached by any group less than four full squads of one of the Five Great Nations' Black Ops. Ones specializing not in Capture and Tracking, but in Assassination and Infiltration, just to take her on in the hope of surviving." Naruto's eyes were wide in wonder.

"Wow..." he stated and rested him head on Boshihari's shoulder. "Kaa-san was totally awesome." At that point, the events of the boy's day seemed to catch up to him and his eyelids slowly drooped until they closed completely and his breathing evened out as he drifted off into unconsciousness.

Boshihari smiled as she moved him to her arms, holding him bridal style and close to her. "Yes... she was." Boshihari whispered.


	3. Chapter II: Training Pt I

**Born of Obsidian**

**Chapter II: Training Part I**

**Hey all, Orpheus and Sleep back with the next chapter. While there is not much to say, I do have this. I am deciding to implement a new date system this chapter in the style of Fairy Tail. For future reference, October 10, XX00 will be the date of the Kyubi attack and October 10, XX04 is the day Naruto left Konoha.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other elements that may appear. All OC's, original jutsu, original clans, original villages, original bloodlines and other fanon elements are to be considered either SleepArypsure's or mine unless specifically stated.**

**Quote of the Day:**

**[October 13, XX04 – Rice Country]**

"Right here seems like a good enough place." Boshihari stated as Naruto walked beside her.

"For what, Hari-nee?" He asked as she formed an ox handseal. It was one of three he had memorized so far- the other two being ram and tiger- from one of Boshihari's lessons.

"To test your chakra." She stated. "You activated it two days ago. That was but the first step in the training our clan goes through. The second step is to test your chakra so that the correct training can be done from the earliest age possible. Uzumaki have an extremely high amount of potent chakra, meaning control must be gained at a very early age or it becomes exponentially harder to gain." As Boshihari's hands separated, a piece of paper lay in her hands, which she handed to Naruto. "This is a special kind of paper which when chakra is channeled in, shows the affinities of a person. First, it will show your basic affinities, and then your natural bloodline."

"Natural bloodline?" He asked.

"Yes... myself, I have a natural bloodline called Kokuyoton which allows me to create obsidian from my chakra with ease. However, along with that, comes a natural ability, though more chakra intensive than my Kokuyoton, to use Mokuton, Yoton and Futton. With training, I also have the ability to add my natural Yang chakra from the Uzumaki bloodline to my elements in order to use several other sub-elements. Though... I have yet to find a way to successfully combine all four of my elemental affinities at once. Now, while I am quite sure of what yours are thanks to my sensory abilities, I want to be absolutely positive and that is why we are using this chakra paper."

Naruto nodded and held the chakra paper in his thumb and forefinger, forcing chakra to travel from his stomach, up his tenketsu and to his fingertips until the paper reacted. First, one-third of the paper completely burned to ash, then another third completely turned to dust and the remainder literally became water. As they fell, the three elements mixed into one before hitting the ground and where the dust and water touched, wood formed. Where the dust and ash touched, lava formed before drying into igneous rocks. Where the water and ash touched, boiling mist formed. Finally, the places all three touched as one, shards of black obsidian formed and fell to the ground.

"Just as I thought." Boshihari said with a simple nod. "You too have the Kokuyoton kekkai tota as I do. This means that we have much to practice. Ninjutsu will not be the only thing we must work on, however. We have taijutsu, bukijutsu, fuinjutsu and your other kekkai genkai to worry about as well." Naruto nodded, still looking at the pile of seven elements on the ground before him. "Naru-chan, come on. It looks like it's going to rain. I'll make us some shelter and we can begin a lesson on fuinjutsu." The boy looked up at her with a small smile and nodded his agreement as he followed the older redhead into a nearby forest before she used her Mokuton to create a log cabin and led him inside.

She sat on the floor in a lotus position, Naruto doing the same in front of her. "What are you going to teach me now?" He asked. Boshihari smiled to the younger boy and passed him a mask, one that looked like the owl mask she had showed him three days ago at the Temple... this one had the distinct difference of a bloodstained beak.

"That mask is called Minerva. It grants the wearer a temporary ability to retain everything they experience. However... you will only be able to wear it for four hours at a time before needing rest as it consumes chakra at a constant rate while you use it. We are going to use it during the next few days so that you can learn a skill absolutely vital in your training. I am going to teach you how to read and write."

**[December 6, XX04 – Earth Country]**

"Today will be your first lesson in chakra control." Boshihari said as she stood in front of a steep cliff face in Earth Country, Naruto right in front of her in his new outfit. He now wore a black haori with a blue line on each sleeve and hakama pants with the same design, as well as black sandals with a dark blue strap. "You will climb this rock... without your hands." The smaller redhead looked at her with a tilted head, wondering what she meant. Boshihari turned around and began walking up the cliff, surprising her charge.

"How did you do that?" He asked as she jumped back to the floor in front of him.

"It is quite simple, Naru-chan. By channeling chakra into your feet, you can cling to surfaces. Channel too little, and you'll fall. Channel too much and you'll be sent away in an explosion of energy. This will only be one of many chakra control techniques I will be teaching you since without proper control, you will waste enormous amounts of energy by using too much when fighting. As this is an exercise I cannot help you with, you may begin. We will remain here until you have completed this exercise to my satisfaction."

Naruto nodded once and wore an expression of concentration as he stepped forward. **I've spent the last six weeks learning how to channel chakra to every inch of my body, this should be easy.** He thought as he placed his right foot on the wall and felt it cling. Feeling brave, he placed the left one just above it and was glad the right one stuck. As he attempted to put chakra into his right, he suddenly fell to the floor, not a long fall but it was disheartening to the young boy. He stood up and heard Boshihari's voice.

"While I am glad you you did not run up like that Sarutobi-baka my uncle taught, I have to point out something. You must divert chakra at the correct pace, else you will fall when you transition feet." The small redhead looked at his cousin.

"Why shouldn't I have run up?" He asked.

"Because, running up teaches you nothing. It is a fool's shortcut that Tobirama used in training to speed up the process of chakra control. Unfortunately for him, he was not a sensor like you or me. Though the waste of chakra is small, it is there if you learn to cling to surfaces by running and adds up to a large amount after some time. You must first learn to walk before you can run." Naruto nodded.

"I understand, Hari-nee." He replied and went to try again.

Despite the number of times he fell or was thrown off, Boshihari smiled with pride. Not just at how much farther he got each time, but each time she gave him advice, he took it. And his speech... she had been giving him lessons on the right way to speak in different situations and on expanding his vocabulary. It was a lesson her kaa-san had given her as well.

While ninja were assassins and bountymen, escorts and protectors, warriors and medics, they had more missions that battle. Some missions were diplomatic in nature and she would not have the only family she had found so far be unable to do anything he might need. After all, a kind word and a kunai will get you further than a kind word, but sometimes the right words can make the kunai needless in a situation.

Hell, sometimes the right words can turn a potentially deadly enemy into one of your fiercest allies. Her father had believed the same thing and it had been the reason for Konoha's creation. Truth be told... the Uchiha Main Family from that generation were rather nice people. Madara and his brother Izuna, Izuna's daughter and Madara's son and of course both of their wives. It was too bad that the whole family was banished from the clan after Madara's defection and Izuna's disappearance.

To this day, Boshihari still wondered if Kenichi and Tsuki were alive. She knew their mothers were long dead, by about forty years, but there were never reports of those two cousins after the Second Shinobi World War.

"Hari-nee! I did it!" Boshihari cut her train of thought and looked up, seeing Naruto at the top of the fifty foot cliff and smiled. The sun showed it had been only two hours. That wasn't bad. Now... well, now he would just have to master it on his own as they traveled since tree hopping would probably be a normal occurrence from here on.

Well... after they got out of Tsuchi no Kuni that is.

**[December 20, XX04 – Honey Country]**

"Today's lesson is regarding nature, or more specific, natures." Boshihari stated as the two stood in a field of flowers, bees buzzing in the background as they pollinated flowers. Despite the multitude of hives in this particular clearing, neither Uzumaki held any fear. The first reason was that Boshihari had never given Naruto a reason to fear the insects. The second was that even if one had been stung, the natural Uzumaki healing factor (and each one's strengthened healing factor from demonic influences) would easily take care of the poison.

"What's the difference?" Naruto asked curiously.

"It is really quite simple, Naru-chan." Boshihari replied. "Nature speaks of one's surroundings when not in a place of humans, whereas natures speak of..." Boshihari formed a simple ram seal and and by sheer willpower and manipulation an pillar of stone rose up in front of her to her waist and a double helix of water and fire formed around it, "the elements which a person's chakra may become."

"Awesome." Naruto said with a grin before noting Boshihari's look. "Um... I mean... sounds exciting." She nodded and released the ram seal, though the pillar, water and fire stayed in place, the water and fire simply rising up and mixing on the pedestal of the pillar causing it to form an orb of obsidian as fire made the earth turn molten and water quickly cooled it.

"It is exciting. Elemental natures are the foundation of a ninjutsu specialist and most ninja are not considered skilled without at least one of each affinity under their belt, unless their tai, gen, buki or fuinjutsu is high enough. You will be skilled in all the areas. However, I am yet able to teach you taijutsu or much bukijutsu because of your stature, Naru-chan."

The revelation that he was _too short to learn_ hurt Naruto's pride... but he quickly got over it. "So... what am I learning then?" Boshihari grinned, despite herself, and reached into her robe to pull out a special scroll with the Uzumaki spiral on each tip. "This is a scroll of C-rank water ninjutsu, written by own mother. On it are three ninjutsu which you will be learning. One was created by Uzumaki Tsunami, my aunt and kaa-san's twin, one was made by kaa-san herself and the final was created by my uncle, Tobirama. You could say... it's your birthright."

Naruto frowned. "But... I'm not related to the Nidaime Hokage... am I?" He asked. Boshihari felt no small sense of satisfaction that her history lessons were getting through to him. "Unless... you still haven't told me about my father's family, just that he was an orphan and that his name was Namikaze Minato, whoever that is."

Boshihari couldn't help but give a small smile that he wasn't even aware of that side of his heritage, the Namikaze- or should she say Senju?- clan. "Well, your father, as it happens, was my third cousin. His mother was my second and his father was a Namikaze from Kumogakure. Both died during the Second Shinobi World War like most of my clan, and a squad of my uncle's personal ANBU, a division he called ROOT, found your father who was birthed on the battlefield. Namikaze Senko died trying to protect Senju Yami and Yami died giving birth, both only living long enough to give Minato a name and tell the ROOT who found them to protect him." Naruto's eyes were wide.

"Who found him?" Naruto asked.

"A student of my uncle... a man who was just as much a warhawk as my father's brother... Shimura Danzo. He brought Minato back but dropped him off at the Konohagakure orphanage, only leaving a letter with your father's name on it. He grew up the whole time unaware of his true heritage." Naruto's face was scrunched in thought before he suddenly looked at Boshihari.

"Was... Tobirama my ancestor?" He asked and Boshihari nodded with a smile, glad the young boy had figured it out so fast. "Wow..."

"Quite." Boshihari commented. "You are the heir to the Nidaime Hokage just as much as you are to the Yondaime." Naruto looked at Boshihari strangely. "Oh... did I forget to mention that? Minato grew to be named the Yondaime Hokage after his role in the Third Shinobi World War as the Kiroi Senko."

"And... you're heir to the Shodaime Hokage." Naruto said. "Who was the Sandaime?" Boshihari smiled.

"That's a lesson for another day, for now, let's get started on your nature training." The Uzumaki woman held a ram seal and water formed from the air into a ball four feet in radius just eighteen inches from Naruto. "You'll use this water to train today. We'll continue moving as we have been even if you don't master the ninjutsu in one day, which I'm nearly sure is quite impossible due to your inexperience but you could surprise me, and you can practice more each day. Now, go ahead and get started."

Naruto nodded once and took the scroll Boshihari handed him, biting his thumb and opening the blood seal on it. He knew there would be one since it was a clan scroll and Boshihari's fuinjutsu lesson a few weeks ago had stated that most clans put blood seals on their clan scrolls. Opening it, he eyed the techniques.

_Water Style: Water Clone Jutsu – The user creates a construct of water which is a clone of themselves made entirely out of water which has exactly one-tenth their strength. In order to do this correctly, the user need only have enough chakra control cling to surfaces but must have enough control of shape and nature manipulation to shape water into a stable sphere. If the clone travels too far from the user, it will destabilize and the same shall happen if it is damaged. Handseals: Tiger_

_Water Style: Gunshot – The user creates a pressurized bullet of water in their stomach and fires it at a target from their mouth. Handseals: Tiger_

_Water Style: Water Trumpet Jutsu – The user forms a circle with their thumb and forefinger and places it in front of their mouth, using it to aim the water they shoot from their mouth. Handseals: Dragon-Tiger-Hare. Short Chain: Tiger._

Naruto smirked after he read the descriptions of each and saw diagrams of how to perform each and looked up at Boshihari. "I won't fail you, Hari-nee!" He announced. "I'll definitely master these!"

Boshihari smiled and ruffled his spiky hair. "Oh, I'm sure you will. I believe in you, Naru-chan."

**[January 10 XX05, Hot Spring Country]**

"You want me to... do what now?" Naruto asked Boshihari with a slightly nervous look as he stared at the steaming water in front of him. Boshihari sighed.

"It's simple. I want you to stand on top of the water. It's just a higher level version of the rock and tree walking exercises. It is an essential skill for any and all ninja." Naruto swallowed and nodded. "Besides, if you use water-natured chakra, it is much easier to do. Your water affinity being affected by both Uzumaki and Tobirama's DNA makes your water chakra that much stronger so..."

"Y-yeah... I guess you're right." He replied and tentatively placed a foot on the water, surprised he felt nothing when he coated his sole in water chakra. "What...?"

"This is a lesson within a lesson." Boshihari said. "Chakra is not just used to cling, it can also repel at the same time. In fact... using the same natured chakra as an element touching you will simply add to the chakra you use, making fire chakra an excellent armor against Uchiha and water chakra an excellent armor against Uzumaki, Senju and Hozuki."

"Armor?" Naruto asked as he focused completely on staying atop the water, whenever he felt himself falling, he subconsciously did something Boshihari practically grinned at.

"Such as the Water Armor you just used." Naruto looked at his body and saw that up to his waist – which is where the he sunk to – was covered in a darker blue water than the rest of the onsen. "The threat of being burned coupled with your experience in chakra flow and nature manipulation allowed you to accidentally learn how to perform one of the Uzumaki's most secret ninjutsu, something I was hoping you would get in this lesson. The Water Armor you just used will keep higher and lower temperatured water from touching you, absorbs water-natured ninjutsu, softens physical blows and makes an excellent deterrent to fire ninjutsu. Just be warned that lightning ninjutsu will be more effective against you while using it."

Naruto was extremely impressed by this knowledge, so much that he lost focus and suddenly felt very hot, jumping out of the water as he was burned by the water and running around, trying to cool himself off. "Hot! Hot! Hot!"

Boshihari giggled. "Oh, Naru-chan. You never cease to amaze me."

**[February 4, XX05, Flower Country]**

"The rose is a wonderful species of flora, Naru-chan." Boshihari stated as she picked one up and held it under her nose, inhaling the scent. "Beautiful, graceful and able to come in many colors, but most are like this one here, a deep blood-red. They mirror the Uzumaki women so nicely, especially given the nature of their stems. Pick up a rose correctly and it will not harm you, allowing you to bask in its beauty and grace. However... do something wrong... and suffer the wrath of its thorns."

Naruto nodded in understanding. "So... our clan's women can be both sweet and..."

"Violent, very violent. Especially if their family is harmed." Boshihari said simply. "Now, here is an Uzumaki clan way of training speed and grace in preparation for your first weapon."

"Wait... but what about my Onkei no Mai (Dance of Grace)?" Naruto asked, alluding to one of the aspects of the Uzumaki Clan's physical bloodline.

Boshihari nodded. "Yes, the Onkei no Mai will aid you greatly. Please, show me the result of your lessons, what can it do."

"Um..." Naruto held a look of thoughtfulness. "Well... it's active from birth, unlike the Seishun no Izumi, for one. I think the way you explained it was... it keeps our clan's muscles lean and prevents them from becoming bulky and also increases our speed and strength by using our massive amounts of Yang chakra."

"Almost. It uses the Nidaikaze (Second Wind) of our biology. Do you remember what that is?" Naruto thought for a moment before nodding.

"Right, it's a second pool of chakra that our clan has, but it only holds Yang chakra instead of regular chakra and is just as accessible to us as our regular chakra, meaning all Uzumaki are able to mix Yang with our basic elements with barely any training."

"Correct, Naru-chan." Boshihari said with a smile. "But, just like normal chakra, a certain amount of our second pool automatically is channeled by our bodies through our tenketsu for normal body functions, it is for this reason that our clan has massive endurance compared to others, even to the Senju clan."

"So... what is this exercise?" Naruto asked as he looked at the rose in Boshihari's hand once more.

"It is simple. First... we shall train your speed and reflexes using nothing but a simple rose..." She threw it up and a dozen petals fell from it, and in the blink of Naruto's eyes, all of them were in Boshihari's right hand while she had caught the rose perfectly in her left. "You will not be attempting so many at once... three will do for now." She placed her right hand over the rose's flower and removed it, all of the petals were once more on it.

Naruto accepted the rose from her. "Alright, Hari-nee." Throwing it up, several petals fell off and he caught four in one hand, but when he tried to catch the rose it dropped to the floor as the thorns stabbed his hand. He quickly sucked on his forefinger which was bleeding.

"Oh... and also, you need to catch the rose right. Remember what I said at the beginning of the lesson. Always remember the words of those you interact with, it just might shed some light on later events." Naruto nodded once and carefully picked up the rose once more.

"Got it." He said seriously. "I'll get it done!"

**[May 27, XX05, River Country]**

"Today shall be your first field exam to make sure your training is coming together." Boshihari stated as both of the Uzumaki stood atop part of a river which had a slow current. "So far, you have learned much in these seven and a half months."

"Hai, Hari-nee." Naruto nodded once. "What do I need to do?"

"First, we shall test your chakra control, water manipulation, speed and reflexes at once to see what I am able to teach you next." Naruto looked at her in suspicion, reading in between the lines.

"You mean... target practice." He said. It wasn't the first time she would have done so. At Boshihari's smirk, he knew he had guessed right. She held out her hand some of the river's water formed a sphere just beside her and three trickles came from it before being changed into senbon of pure water in her hand.

"Precisely." As soon as she threw them, Naruto formed a Tiger seal.

"**Water Style: Gunshot!" **He spat out a ball of condensed water which absorbed the water needles before jumping back using chakra to augment the strength of his legs and water chakra to repel the water from his feet, further aiding the distance he could jump. As he landed, water armor covered his feet all the way up to his ankles.

"Ah, using all your skills. Very good Naru-chan." Boshihari complimented as she allowed the water sphere to become bigger by adding more water and formed two Fuma Shuriken and threw them at him. Naruto's eyes widened, but he quickly used another of the ninjutsu he knew.

"**Water Style: Water Clone Jutsu!" **Three doppelgangers appeared and all three quickly formed identical handseals while Naruto made another tiger handseal.

"**Water Style: Gunshot!" **The original spat another bullet of water while the others finished their chain of Dragon-Tiger-Hare. **"Water Style: Water Trumpet Jutsu!" **The three streams fed the bullet and rapidly increased its size. **"Collaboration Jutsu: Water Bullet Expansion Jutsu!"**

The bullet became extremely large and the clones dispelled from using all their chakra. The two shuriken crashed into the bullet then and the three constructs of water destabilized, splashing water everywhere. "Hm... efficient. By creating three clones with ten percent of your chakra each instead of attempting to increase the size of the bullet before shooting it saved you chakra cost. And it was just enough to cancel my attack. Let's try something else. Time for some battle fuinjutsu."

Reaching into her robe, Boshihari took out several pre-made kunai of obsidian and threw them at Naruto, who understood what she wanted. Quickly he formed a ram seal to concentrate his chakra manipulation and water rose up to create a seal midair. It was a seal formed with the kanji for Storage connected to Solid, Object, Inanimate and Obsidian. The kunai would fly into the seal and disappear into a pocket dimension only another Uzumaki could access.

And just as it was planned, it happened. Boshihari nodded at Naruto's quick use of simple water manipulation exercises and a mere Level 2 Storage Seal. "Impressive speed. I have seen all that I need to. Your next lessons shall be easy enough for me to plan. We are finished for the day and you may spend the rest of the day however you wish."

**Well, that's about it for now.**

**We have some pretty big plans for Naruto as far as pre-canon events go, so don't worry. There will be one more training chapter up next and then I'll begin the first actual arc for you all. It involves Otogakure, but that's all I'm saying on the subject.**

**Naruto's skills: Though he looks strong, think about this. He's got a sensei who literally knows exactly the right way to teach him since she shares affinities and clans with him. And also, while he does have some long-range skills, he's pretty much useless right now in an actual fight due to A) zero experience and B) no taijutsu/bukijutsu skills so if someone were to get around his C-rank ninjutsu skills (admittedly, not hard for a decently skilled ninja or samurai) then he's going to lose immediately.**

**Uzumaki Bloodline: While I have revealed two more aspects of the Uzumaki physical bloodline, there is a few more parts to it which should hopefully all be revealed by canon.**

**Naruto's Heritage: Yes, Naruto is related to Tobirama in this fic. That will be very important down the road, trust me.**

**Sub-elements: While Naruto will have Lava, Boil, Wood and Obsidian, his Yang affinity will allow for some other as well, though I won't say which ones. If you're really that curious, my entire elemental composition table is both on my forum (which has a link on my bio) and on my bio itself.**

**Pairing: For the absolute last time, Naruto will be with Haku in this fic. No harems. No double/triple pairings. No other girls before Haku. Strictly NarutoxFem!Haku. Stop requesting others!**

**Reviews: This is the last thing. Let me say, I appreciate your reviews, all of them, I'm glad that you like this fic enough to actually take time to write one. I would just like to formally say on behalf of Sleep, myself and every other writer on this site... stop posting reviews like "Cool", "Good Story", "Update Soon", "Looks great", etc. Reviews which simply tell me you liked (or disliked) my story don't help me at all. Make a suggestion. Ask a question. Challenge a decision I made. Make a prediction on what will happen next. Heck... I actually prefer flamers to those one, two and three-word reviews, sad as that is to say.**

**With nothing left to say...**

**Orpheus out! Ja ne!**


	4. Chapter III: Training Part II

**Born of Obsidian**

**Hey all! I'm back! Orpheus is finally back! And I'm beginning my homecoming with this! **

**Welcome to the long anticipated third chapter of this story and the final one of this arc! Finally I finished it and it is ready for release.**

**Now, time for some review answering.**

**Quazarkmax: It did help!**

**Luna: Orpheus-sama and Sleep-chan do not own Naruto, Bleach or anything else that may come up!**

**Orpheus: I won't bore anyone with anything they don't want to read, so let's begin, ne?**

**Chapter III: Training Part II**

**Quote of the Day: "Achievement is talent plus preparation." -Malcolm Gladwell, Outliers: The Story of Success.**

"This is where we see how you're training has gone." Boshihari said as she stood on the side of a cliff with Naruto in front of her. The cliff was actually the side of a volcano and extremely hot whereas at the bottom if one fell was a hot spring.

"Hai, Boshihari-sensei." Naruto spoke calmly. He was seven now and three years her student. His tone sounded respectful as he looked on at the woman before him.

"Remember your training in this test. It will help. That and your three gifts as well. The mask, ring and sword are up to you how to use."

Naruto nodded and breathed in slowly as he looked down at his right index finger. There sat one of three gifts his last three birthdays granted him. His last birthday he was gifted a sword with a special ability, a zanpakuto of the Uzumaki Clan. Before that he got one of the masks to keep. But on his first birthday with Boshihari, Naruto got his ring... it was deep black with glowing blue seals etched on the inside.

**[Flashback Begin]**

"What are we doing today, Hari-nee?" Naruto asked curiously as they had set up camp very early. It was barely noon and Boshihari had them atop a hill and already inside the wooden cabin she always made for them.

He couldn't wait to learn Wood Release... or any sub-element for that matter. He was progressing well in his basic elements, or so Boshihari said. Still, the aspect of two elements making something new was really amazing.

"Do you know what today is?" She asked and Naruto tapped his chin in thought like he saw her sometimes do.

"Um... October the 10th?" He asked and she nodded. "So?"

"It is the anniversary of some significant events in your life. Your birth, the death of your parents, the Fox Hunt and our first meeting." She was blunt and to the point which was rare for the former monk, as far as the younger redhead had seen.

"I guess you're right. But my life in Konohagakure no Sato is finished, so why bring it up?" Naruto asked, still confused.

"Today is your birthday, Naruto-chan." Boshihari said. When he tilted his head in curiosity she sighed. "Right... you have never had one."

"A what?" Naruto asked and Boshihari knelt in front of him, smiling. "Hari-nee?"

"Today is special, Naru-chan. Today is all about you, the day you came in to this world. It is a special day that I want to celebrate because you are special to me. Do you understand?"

The five year old was still confused but smiled to the older redhead who had been taking care of and teaching him. He gave her a hug and she smiled, wrapping her own arms around him as well.

When they separated, Boshihari reached into her robe and pulled out a small, black ring box and handed it to Naruto who looked at her curiously with those big purple eyes.

"Um..."

"Open it. It's your birthday present."

"Pre...sent?"

"A... gift. On your birthday people give you a gift to show how much you mean to them."

Naruto nodded and looked at the box with a smile. He opened it and inside was a simple black ring that was glossy and polished.

Boshihari became worried as she saw Naruto's eyes become teary. "Do you not like it?" She asked and the five year old looked up at her, shaking his head.

"No one ever got me anything... I l-love it!" He shot forward and wrapped his arms around the cycloptic ex-monk who was at first surprised but smiled softly, finally returning the embrace.

"It's more than a ring, Naru-chan. It's an Uzumaki artifact of the Royal Family... your mother's family. It was worn by the Clan Head and made them strong, very strong.

"The Uzumaki have always been a clan of heavy ninjutsu users because of our immense chakra reserves. Our only issue was chakra control, something that we all have to constantly practice. That ring there is one of only two in existence, the other which is in my pocket dimension but is also yours."

"Also mine?"

"The rings are worn by the clan heads. Man and wife share the status and pass both to the eldest born and their spouse only upon death. When you reach the age where your Fountain of Youth activates, I will grant you your spouse's ring unless you find someone before then."

"What do the rings do?"

"Chakra control augmentation. Yin and Yang are twenty times easier to control. Non-elemental chakra is ten times easier to control. Basic elements are five times, Two nature sub-elements are three, three nature sub-elements are two, four nature are 1.5 and anything else is undocumented."

Naruto's eyes widened. "Wow... is that why you had me start Fire, Earth and Water training already?" Boshihari nodded.

"You are not allowed to wear it when starting training on a new element or jutsu. It would act as a crutch and thus weaken you. Can you promise me that?"

"I promise, Hari-nee!" Naruto said as he put the ring on. "And like you said, an Uzumaki never breaks a promise!" Boshihari smiled softly at that.

"That is good you remembered, now why don't we have some ramen...?"

**[Flashback End]**

Naruto formed his right hand into a fist and nodded to himself. He would make her proud of him.

Boshihari smiled as she saw Naruto gathering his focus. He was really becoming something great. She was very impressed by progress in three and a half years. What surprised her more though...

**[Flashback Begin]**

"Wow... this place is amazing."

"This is the Ancient Uzumaki Underground Complex." Boshihari said. They were in but one of many, many rooms underground, or at least what appeared underground.

This specific chamber was covered in seals and had a single pedestal in the center of it. "What is this room for?"

"This is the Uzumaki Affinity Testing room. It shows a complete analysis of all your affinities and the highest level sub-element you can use."

"How does it work?" Naruto asked curiously.

"The sealing array acts as a mirror of your chakra. Every person's chakra can be divided into seven categories. The first five are the elemental natures: Fire, Wind, Lightning, Earth and Water. Non-elemental chakra is made of two components: the spiritual energy of Yin and the physical energy of Yang.

"When a person steps on the pedestal there, the seven circles around it with the kanji for each of the elements will light up a pillar of a certain color if you are aligned to it.

"Fire creates a pillar of crimson; Wind creates a pillar of silver; Lightning creates a pillar of gold; Earth creates a pillar of amber; Water creates a pillar of azure; Yin creates a pillar of pitch black and Yang creates a pillar of snow white."

"Um... Hari-nee... what did yours make?"

"I'll show you." She said and took a few steps until she stood on the pedestal. Naruto watched the pillars as the kanji for Fire, Earth, Water and Yang lit before a pillar of crimson, amber, azure and snow white rose up.

What was truly amazing is that they began to twist and interweave before at the very peak they connected and an obsidian pyramid formed with something white flowing around it in a vortex.

"My elements are Fire, Earth, Water and Yang. My natural bloodline is the Obsidian branch of Glass Release and I have the ability to use the Paper Release if I use all of my elements, but I haven't trained in that."

"Thats why the pyramid was there." Naruto said. "Okay... I want to try." Boshihari smiled and stepped down as Naruto stepped up.

Immediately her eyes widened as five pillars rose. Crimson, amber, azure, pitch black and snow white...

**[Flashback End]**

It had been truly amazing to learn. Sure, she had the potential for a four-nature kekkai seigyo but a kekkai shijo? The documented cases from all eras were less than twenty. After a millenia, only eighteen individuals had one... now nineteen.

She didn't know his potential shijo at this point. The flaw in the Uzumaki Affinity seal is that the seal could only show the potential sub-element of previously documented sub-elements. His specific Shijo was undocumented so... he would need training in mixing elemental chakra.

That was why she already trained him a little in four and he even figured out how to access one she couldn't because of his Yin chakra.

"Naruto-chan, are you prepared?" The smaller redhead nodded his head.

"Hai."

Boshihari created a single kunai of obsidian. "When this hits the hot spring, begin. Come at me with intent to kill, Naruto-chan. Understand?" He nodded and Boshihari dropped it.

The next second while it dropped seemed to slow down to Naruto. He didn't watch it drop but instead channeled Yang chakra to his ears, enhancing his hearing.

His hands were kept at his side, twitching in anticipation as he awaited gravity to do its work. Even as it fell, he began to think what moves he could use. He needed to do something to win this... Boshihari was taller, stronger, faster and more experienced. He couldn't win but... maybe he could at least score one hit.

_Splash!_

That's all the warning he needed. Naruto had immediately jumped backwards and began a set of handseals even as Boshihari created two glass clones without seals.

One formed an obsidian naginata in her hands while the other inhaled before shooting black needles of obsidian at the location Naruto was formerly at.

"Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Flower Jutsu!" Naruto held his thumb and forefinger in a circle in front of his mouth and blew several fireballs out. The clone without the naginata simply held a ram seal and a wall of water shot up from the hot spring to block it before forming into a dragon and launching itself at Naruto.

The redhead saw it coming and caused the moisture in the air to become water and form into a midair sealing matrix. "Uzumaki Sealing Art: Water Sealing Jutsu!" The dragon disappeared inside the seal and then the water itself reformed another shape.

"Water Style: Water Shuriken Jutsu!" The tendrils that formed the seal turned into a dozen shuriken of water that suddenly shot forward at the clones.

The naginata-wielding clone jumped in front of the other and began to deflect them from damaging either of them.

This gave Naruto just the break he needed as he reached into his robe and pulled out a mask. It was a fox's face mostly blue with touches of red over it. He placed it over his face and time slowed as a memory of his training resurfaced.

**[Flashback Begin]**

"There are two types of masks from our clan, Naruto-chan. Of the 108 masks, 54 are inspired by either divine or demonic influences while the other half are inspired by human or natural influences.

"The 'Supernatural' set have three abilities apiece, the first accessible to anyone wearing the mask and the other two are only activated with mastery of the first skill.

"The 'Worldly' set have more abilities but are weaker and require the mask to tell you the incantation for each ability."

"Like the clan swords?'

"Like the zanpakuto, yes. Many Uzumaki actually used both their mask and zanpakuto in conjunction to create devastating styles that allowed our clan to be on the same level as the Senju and Uchiha, nay... on higher levels."

"So which one is the fox mask you gave me?"

"Yoko is a Supernatural mask so it's first ability is accessible at all times. You must master its first skill before you obtain the other two."

**[Flashback End]**

He placed Yoko on his face and felt the mask's power... he took hold of that power and used it as he had before. Though it was a Supernatural mask until he had the ability mastered, he would need to still use the abilities name to trigger it.

"Yoko Mask: Tails of the Beast!" He announced and suddenly felt the telltale tingling at the base of his spine as not one, but two fox tails materialized behind him under his control.

He could materialize up to nine of them, but he only had perfect control of two at this point. That's what he needed right now, perfect control.

"Getting serious, Naruto-chan?" One of the clones asked and Naruto smirked behind his mask, causing the mask itself to smirk. The fox's mouth moving was quite a sight to anyone not accustomed to the Uzumaki masks.

Two seals appeared above the tails and two weapons fell, a naginata and a ninjato, each caught by one of the tails. The now fox-faced Naruto fell to all fours on the rocky cliff face as the stone crept up his fingers to form claws before he dashed forward like a fox.

The original Boshihari stood in the exact same location as she examined the boy fighting. The mask heavily influenced his style once he put it on.

Was it because of the Kyubi? Should she have told him already? No... it was best to keep him innocent of that weight for a while longer. She didn't want his still child-like innocence to disappear...

She hadn't even given him his first kill yet. She was being a baka about it all and Boshihari knew it. He was her only family left besides her niece Tsunade but Boshihari didn't even consider herself a Senju. The Slug Sannin and her had always been at ends because of that.

Looking Naruto again she noted that he was holding off her naginata-wielding clone with both blades in his tails as he was attempting to use jumping claw strikes on her ninjutsu clone. While they missed, it kept the clone unable to cast any jutsu.

**Use **_**that **_**jutsu Naru-chan... **She thought to herself and as if he heard, Naruto dive-rolled away from both and looked at the two, a feral look in his mask's eyes as he readied himself and dashed forward before jumping and spinning in midair, tails pointing the blades in front of him.

"Fire Style..." He whispered as from front to back the twister he created by spinning ignited. "Vortex Fang!" In the style of the famed Inuzuka clan, Naruto formed a flaming cyclone of stone claws and steel blades as he shattered her ninjutsu clone and tore through the naginata-wielding clone's defenses, shattering her as well.

He landed on all fours, tails splayed out so one was on either side of him. He looked at Boshihari who merely held a mysterious smile and a twinkle in her lone eye.

"You can take on my clones... but what about me?" Without even a seal, a staff of oak rose from the stone wall and she twirled it for emphasis and show.

Naruto looked at the woman. A daughter of the strongest Senju and Uzumaki seen in centuries, a mistress of over a dozen elemental natures, a former monk who trained in bojutsu with the best and could beat anyone in a straight bukijutsu fight even with just a single eye. She was undoubtedly one of the strongest shinobi alive and definitely the strongest kunoichi living.

"I won't go down without a fight!" He shouted and dashed forward, jumping high and spinning in a flipping motion and the blades were out creating a vortex of steel.

Boshihari saw it coming and held her hand up, palm towards Naruto as a large, flat shield of oak appeared above her which the steel blades became stuck in. Balancing on his tails, still gripping the two blades, Naruto gripped them tighter and inhaled as he made handseals.

The mask's mouth opened to reveal what a zoologist would recognize as a fox's mouth as he spoke the jutsu's name from behind it. "Glass Release: Obsidian Shard Rain Jutsu!" Small pieces of the sharpest material in existence shot forward and embedded into the wood, pushing it down as his tails pulled to allow him to free his weapons and backflip off the Mokuton construct.

"Why not try again?" Boshihari asked sweetly and Naruto had to strain to pull his anger in. Emotion clouded thought and focus in battle. He needed utter calm against this much tougher opponent.

The time he took to calm himself was a mistake as Boshihari performed her first offense and rushed forward at him, naginata forward and threatening to stab him.

Naruto's eyes widened and his tails came down causing his blades to form an X and barely make the opposing naginata slide above his hair instead of killing him.

He instantly jumped back as he felt the connection with his mask straining. **No! Not now of all times!**

Suddenly, his tails began to disappear with barely enough time for him to reseal the blades back before the mask dropped into his hands. He put it in his robe and inwardly cursed.

He wasn't nearly as good with it as he'd like. The Supernatural masks always had either a chakra cost or a timeout function. If one wore a mask and mastered it, the timeout would become nearly non-existent, but he had so little time with Yoko.

He knew it was needed to use the mask to take out the clones but now he would have to wait for it to recharge its energy.

"Pay attention!" Boshihari shouted as several fuma shuriken of hot spring water shot at him and he ran up the slope to dodge them. Boshihari gave chase and Naruto had to draw a katana from a seal to parry her strikes. One of his personal zanpakuto.

**[Flashback Begin]**

"Today you turn seven. This is a milestone in all Uzumaki's life as it is time for you to obtain your personal zanpakuto. Explain what a zanpakuto is."

Naruto nodded. "Uzumaki have very potent chakra, so potent it can actually take physical form if the Divine Wrath aspect of our bloodline is present in someone. It is the same aspect which allows chains to be made but either on our seventh birthday if it is forced or on our tenth on its own, a zanpakuto - also called a soul slayer or a spirit weapon by some - is formed and is a legacy that actually outlives the creator of it as it is a construct of Yang chakra and our lifeforce. Each zanpakuto has a base form - usually a katana - and two other forms. The Shikai, or Initial Release, grants the user a set of related abilities and a new form to the weapon as well as an increase in chakra, speed, strength and other physical aspects. Bankai, or Final Release, is a step above even Shikai and allows the user even greater boost, another weapon form and even greater abilities."

"Good. Now, we are going to Force you today. The process is simple. Nothing more than having you channel your Yang chakra into this here bar of metal. It is special and not normal chakra steel. Instead it is a metal found only in vast quantities in Uzu no Kuni. Osmium is the name of the metal and it is denser and heavier than steel, but also a greater defense. Augmenting your strength with Yang chakra will allow an easier time lifting it though."

"Hai." Naruto said as Boshihari placed it on the ground and Naruto kneeled, putting both hands on the bar as his hands were surrounded in white shells of energy.

"Well... just full of surprises." Boshihari said with a small smirk. "I know that multiple blades are possible... but only our original matriarch, Uzumaki Benihime, was ever a holder to that many. She made thirteen from her chakra but four is still mightily impressive."

**[Flashback End]**

His katana was held in both hands as he ran and traded slashes with Boshihari's Obsidian Naginata. Suddenly they arrived at the rim of the volcano and Boshihari held her obsidian blade against Naruto's Osmium one.

"What now?" Boshihari asked. Naruto pulled back a little to throw his sensei off balance before jumping off the rim and straight into the volcano.

The Obsidian Monk looked at him as he rolled into a landing on a platform that rose from the lava. She just loved that power of the Lava Release and Naruto shared her love of it too. She flipped off the rim and a chain shot from her hand so that she swung until she dissipated it and landed just ten meters from him on her own island of stone in the volcano.

While to normal people, the platforms would cause extreme burns to their feet the two Uzumaki had specialized bodies thanks to their natural Lava Release that allowed them to be unaffected by any aspects of molten stone and geothermal substances.

Naruto allowed his zanpakuto to disappear back to the seal he made in midair of lava this time. "You really enjoy using your personal pocket dimension in your style." Boshihari said with a smirk.

"It is useful." Naruto said as he slammed his palms to the platform he stood on. "Wave Release: Lava Tides Jutsu!"

Boshihari smirked as she saw the wave oncoming and moved not an inch. It was just like her cousin and student to mix sub-elements together. Most Uzumaki only used Wave Release - a combination of Water and Yang that most could access - to create tidal waves of water but Naruto found ways for it to be useful in other situations. He was creative in most if not all of the elements he used.

As the wave was about to crash into her, Boshihari blew and her breath carried water that turned the lava wave into stone which was easy to shatter with her fist by pulsing Yang chakra through it just prior to the point of impact.

She frowned though as she couldn't see Naruto or feel his chakra. It had been a diversion... smart. She had been too cocky and now she lost him.

Where could he be? She suddenly felt something small... most sensors would have ignored it but she smirked, knowing exactly what it was. Or rather who it was.

She quickly turned around as Naruto came from the lava, spinning in a vortex upwards and bringing lava with him as he shot skyward before he dove down at her. "Lava Style: Magma Corkscrew!" He shouted as gravity increased his speed at his target.

Boshihari smirked and pulsed Yang chakra in her legs as she jumped up, dodging his nintaijutsu attack and shot chains from her palms to grab him before yanking him higher in the air than her as her height decreased.

She released him and planted one foot on the inside of the volcano's stone face and jumped off to the rim of the volcano on the other side and then jumped again, getting higher than Naruto before forming a whip of water and lashing out, wrapping it around his ankle and spinning before letting go at the right moment to send him hurtling at the ground towards the deep onsen.

He hit the water a full three seconds before she landed on it, using chakra to stay afloat. She watched in satisfaction as he swam to the surface, Water Armor coating him.

"I win." She said as she noted his injuries. Naruto simply smirked and rose to the water's surface with chakra and spoke one word.

"Boom." Quickly, Boshihari used a kawarimi to avoid being sprayed by shards of obsidian.

**Using my own Exploding Obsidian Clone Jutsu on me? Wait... that means...**

Too late she realized her mistake and barely turned in time to see Naruto's punch, a seal array in front of it. "Water Style: Dragon Fist!" He shouted as the very Water Dragon Missile she tried to use on him slammed into her as Naruto's fist made contact with her side and she flew backwards and landed on her feet, sliding backwards a few feet.

If she had any response, she couldn't say it as Naruto fell to his knees on the stone floor outside the onsen. "I... got you... Hari-neechan..." His smile stayed in place even as he passed out from chakra exhaustion.

Boshihari slowly walked to the boy and knelt beside him, running a hand through his hair. "Good job, Naruto-chan. Just like a fox... fooled even me on what you were doing. That intelligence is just what you need to beat tougher opponents."

She sighed and felt her side, wincing at the phantom pain as her healing factor was already working to erase the injury. Had he planned this from when he first sealed the dragon missile... or was he just improvising everything as he went?

Either way one thing was for sure. Naruto was definitely Minato and Kushina's boy... the sheer genius and ability to think on his feet was proof of that.

"Now... let's just hope Konoha never learns of your location before you're ready." Boshihari mumbled as she formed a wood cabin and picked her student up, heading inside.

She just didn't realize that Konoha was the least of their problems right now. The least worrying and least powerful.

**And... that's it!**

**The wait has been long, but I'm hoping this chapter made up for it! I know this isn't my most popular story, but it still is great in my opinion.**

**I'm a bit biased though so...**

**Anyways, thanks to everyone who has sent in OC's and clans so far! They have been a great help and I'm finding places for all entries that I can.**

**Updates on this will be closer than before as Sleep and I have done some extensive planning and it all looks really cool so far.**

**One last thing, I swear to Kami if anyone criticizes me for including zanpakuto in yet another story I am going to go crazy. I like Bleach, okay? I'm sorry if that influences my stories.**

**Just like how Wheel of Time makes cameos sometimes.**

**But the zanpakuto have a legitimate reason to be introduced this time, I swear. As for Naruto's four... all I can say is... nothing! Guesses are welcome but he won't have Hyourinamaru, Zangetsu, Shinsou or Zabimaru as I have those planned for others.**

**Feel free to guess what zanpakuto Naruto, Karin, Boshihari and other Uzumaki will hold. I won't spoil the surprise though.**

**Orpheus out! Ja ne!**


	5. Chapter IV: Ambushed

**Born of Obsidian**

**J.T.P2013: Minor, but there won't be one for a bit.**

**Chapter IV: Ambushed**

Once more in Kawa no Kuni were the Uzumaki duo of Boshihari and Naruto, walking on the dirt path. It had been just over eight months since Naruto's last field exam and just afterward, Boshihari had begun to teach him other aspects of the shinobi life.

"Name the divisions of shinobi and there purpose." She spoke. It had become common for her to give him sudden quizzes on the knowledge she had taught him.

"Okay... the Healing and Restoration Division, also called the medic-nin, is responsible for curing poisons and diseases as well as healing injuries within the ninja population. The Defense and Protection Division, also called guard-nin, is responsible for keeping a country's borders safe, security detail on important figures in the village - like the kage and clan heads - and general defense of the village itself. The Knowledge and Education Division, also called teacher-nin, is responsible for teaching those of a lower rank the basics - these include Chunin working in an Academy and Jonin sensei over a genin squad. The Capture and Tracking Division, also called hunter-nin, is responsible for finding missing-nin. If the nukenin is of their own village, their body should be disposed of but if he or she is of a different village then the person should be captured alive if possible. Lastly is the Assassination and Infiltration Division, also known as Killer-nin, is responsible for carrying out missions which require taking out a specific target or getting inside enemy territory."

"Good. Tell me the ranks and how they affect the Divisions."

"The Shinobi Ranks consist of Academy Student, Genin, Tokubetsu Genin, Chunin, Elite Chunin, Tokubetsu Jonin, Jonin, ANBU, ANBU Captain, ANBU Commander and then Elite Jonin in order from lowest to highest. The Divisions are separated in two branches, non-ANBU and ANBU.

"Within the ANBU each Division in presided over by either an ANBU Captain or the Commander and even though it is possible to make Captain and not be in charge of a Division of ANBU, no one beneath the rank of ANBU Captain - excepting only the Elite Jonin - can be the Head of Division in the ANBU.

"The non-ANBU branch is different however. The Head of Division can be of any rank, even genin, as long as one condition is met: they have to be the most qualified for the position. Within the six Divisions, a Chunin may very well outrank an Elite Jonin but when two or more Divisions interact with each other on missions the ranking system is put in effect and as long as one individual's rank is above another's of a separate Division - even if the lower ranking shinobi or kunoichi is a Head of Division - then the higher-ranking shinobi or kunoichi should be considered a superior officer."

Boshihari nodded. It seemed he retained the knowledge extremely well. The most surprising aspect was that he didn't even wear Minerva while she taught him that. He had memorized that without any aids, and at only 8 too.

"Final Question: Wha-" She never finished as suddenly the duo found themselves surrounded on all sides. Boshihari remained emotionless and looked at who she thought to be the leader as he spoke.

He had blue hair set in a spiked ponytail, streaked with white on either side just above his ears, deep brown eyes and a tan face full of scars. As for clothing he wore a typical Chunin vest that was grey, a brown shirt and black pants, black sandals and around his forearm was a hitai-ite with a muscial note on the plate. "You two aron forbidden territory. This is property belonging to Otogakure no Sato and the Otokage himself.

"As punishment, you will be detained and imprisoned until our kage and master decides your fates personally." Boshihari gave him a bored gaze with her single eye before looking at Naruto once more.

"Final Question: Each of the village's has at least one Special Division. Name at least one of each of the Five Great Nations." She told him. This angered the leader.

"Did you hear me, bitch? I said that you two were going to be captured and imprisoned!"

"Konohagakure no Sato has the Twelve Fire Guardians." Naruto began before the leader spoke again.

"Fuck it! Kill the boy! That bitch needs to learn a lesson though!" His dark smirk left no room for doubt as to what he meant and the grins of the other dozen men showed this would not their first time doing that sort of thing.

"Sunagakure no Sato has the Puppet Corps." Naruto spoke once more even as he created a seal in midair out of water and pulled out a katana-like blade. "Kumogakure no Sato has the Kinkaku Force." Boshihari held out her hand where a naginata with an Obsidian blade formed. "Iwagakure no Sato has the Blast Corps." The Otogakure shinobi cracked their knuckles, readying for a fight. "Lastly Kirigakure no Sato has the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist."

That must've been the signal to everyone as immediately the thirteen ninja dashed forward on the Uzumaki duo. First four launched a flurry of shuriken at them but Naruto formed several storage arrays of water in the air to capture them even as he ran at the ninja, katana low as he ran. He gripped it in both hands with Yang chakra flowing through his arms to allow him the ability to wield it.

One of the Otogakure shinobi had what appeared to be a crossbow and aimed it at the jinchuriki, holding down the trigger as a volley of five steel-tipped bolts shot at him. Naruto inhaled and through pure water manipulation shot a pressurized burst of water that caused the bolts to veer off course while he kept running.

A Yang-chakra enhanced jump carried him forward enough that he could slash down at the man's crossbow. At the same time he channeled fire chakra to his foot and slammed it into the man's face, burning his flesh and landing on his feet. The larger opponent glared at the redhead with one hand over his face nursing the second degree burn he had just gained to his cheek.

Naruto knew that he had more to worry about though as two more thugs - what else could you call a dozen men ganging up on a woman and child? - tried to grab him only for him to be replaced by a log.

When he reappeared he was behind the very two and was on the final sign of a string of one-handed seals. **"Fire Style: Phoenix Sage Flower Jutsu!" **Using his free left hand, he made a circle with his thumb and index finger before shooting ten small balls of flame at the duo, peppering them with burns all over their body.

The two shouted in pain even as the third of the trio he was fighting performed handseals. **"Lightning Style: False Darkness!" **And with that, he shot a large spear of electricity right at Naruto.

**"Wood Style: Protection of the Forest!" **He shouted while placing both hands to the ground and summoning a wall of logs that kept the lightning from harming him by being grounded. This small display immediately caused the three to jump back.

"He has the Mokuton..." One said and that must have been a cue for four others to surround him.

**There goes my advantage of underestimation... **He thought with a mental sigh and resummoned his zanpakuto, the single one he could release even after over a year and a half of being in possession of four.

"Orochimaru-sama will reward us greatly if we capture him!" One said.

"He has to be a Senju! Get him!"

Naruto's hair shadowed his eyes as he held his sword in both hands. "So... that's who the Otokage is... Boshi-nee told me a bit about your master. She also told me no one can know about me yet... so I do apologize for what I must do. **Bow your head, Wabisuke!"**

His sword then began to change and at the end the top of it extended before becoming a square hook. Naruto held it low to the ground as he readied himself to take on seven opponents. He could tell they weren't even Chunin level, but it was still seven-on-one.

**[With Boshihari]**

Boshihari spun around another flurry of shuriken, continuing to dodge those four-pointed stars of steel from five sides without ever leaving the area of one square meter. Her opponents were getting rather impatient, her Negative Emotions Sense told her, but that was good.

Emotions are just a tool a ninja can use. Keep yours close to you and throw your opponent's into disarray and the battle was already won.

Her emotions were getting a bit away from her though as she sensed seven signatures surrounding her cousin. She was confident in his abilities... but she still had that part of her that was concerned for his safety.

Boshihari's instincts kicked in as she was lost in thought and her obsidian naginata came up to parry a ninjato that one of the ninja tried to lunge her with. As the shorter blade went high, Boshihari kicked forward, knocking the Otogakure shinobi back.

As soon as she regained footing, the Uzumaki-Senju stabbed the base of her staff into the ground and used it to vault over the two Oto nin trying to rush her from opposite sides. Spinning in midair, she threw her naginata like a spear and it buried all the way down to the staff, an audible shattering noise as the black glass broke into shards from the force.

Boshihari rolled as she hit the ground, getting up with another oak staff in hand in time to deflect six kunai and a dozen shuriken thrown by the remaining quartet using a simple spinning motion of it.

The staff then disappeared and she began handseals. **"Fire Style: Great Annihilating Fire!"**

As a tidal wave of flames approached the four ninja... they could only see their lives flash by before it ended.

**[With Naruto]**

With his only releasable zanpakuto in Shikai, Naruto dashed forward. His hooked blade first slashed in a wide arc to deflect a few shuriken and then with a duck roll, the eight year old was behind one of the ninja. He slashed twice in quick succession at that one's right arm.

He then coated his blade in fire chakra as he felt two ninja coming from behind and made a half-spin, slashing flames out from Wabisuke that elicited screams from the two - both probably early teens - as they were burned in a few places.

Naruto ducked down and then jumped to the left, avoiding first another set of five bolts and then a downward slash from one shinobi's naginata. Seeing the naginata he slammed Wabisuke onto it's blade before jumping back in time to dodge shuriken now embedded where he had stood not a moment prior.

Seeing how dire the situation was, Naruto quickly grabbed his mask from within his robe and placed it over his face. Once Yoko was in place four fox tails materialized before him in time to surround his body in a layer of protection from shuriken on all sides.

The redhead thanked the Heavens these tails were simply ethereal constructs yet impenetrable. Boshihari once compared them to a technique Madara had... something called Susano'o.

The tails pressed into the ground at four corners surrounding him and pushed up, throwing him in the air and allowing him to perform one-handed seals. **"Blaze Style: Foxfire Jutsu!" **By adding a portion of his Yin chakra to Fire in equal amounts, this style was created that allowed for the creation of hellfire in any color the user wished. For this particular technique, Naruto sprayed a stream of blue fire from Yoko's mouth that succeeded in taking out two of the ninja who weren't on guard. Another had his leg burst into flames and was ultimately consumed since only a handful of things could actually put out a Blaze Style ninjutsu.

He landed back down but instead of Wabisuke in his hand, it was now in one tail's grasp with his other three zanpakuto in the other three tails he was capable of holding at his current level of mastery over Yoko.

Naruto himself was on all fours, digging his feet and hands into the earth before dashing forward.

The first Oto nin he had fought against shot more bolts at him while the other three dashed forward - one holding two tanto, one with a katana and wakizashi and one with a battleax of all things.

The bolts seemed to move slow for Yoko, he was a fox. His ears twitched as he could tell where they were going by just the places air was split in their path. Yoko dug his paws into the ground and jumped up, spinning as his other self - Naruto - spoke something.

**"Lava Style: Twisting Vortex!" **Yoko knew what Naruto wanted and moved his tails to help him. The four tails with blades pointed forward even as Naruto sped right for and into the one with the ax and both tore through his defenses and his body before Yoko landed on all fours.

The Lava Armor dispelled from Naruto and Yoko incited a Blaze Armor over them of black fire taking the shape of a fox as the two dashed as one, perfectly in sync as black fire formed three-inch claws which gashed one of the shinobi and the three unreleased zanpakuto entered the other close one from the back and from two sides at the front before ripping out.

Yoko licked his lips as his bloodlust was sated. Six killed... two more than the tails Naruto was allowed all at once. Naruto felt his mask's spirit's happiness and a fifth ethereal tail form just before the mask dropped to the grass, relieving him of Yoko's spirit.

The crossbow-wielding ninja had dropped his weapon in fear as Naruto looked at him, grabbing his mask. He was the very same Boshihari assumed was leader and as the brown-haired man backed up, it was right in to a wooden wall before thorned vines wrapped around him tightly, preventing movement.

Boshihari looked at her student. "Naruto-chan, what did I say about that mask?" The smaller redhead grinned sheepishly.

"To keep better control so the demon within doesn't take over?" She stared at him sternly and the Uzumaki heir put his hands up defensively. "But Yoko has better control over Blaze than me and when we work together we do things I can't do alone."

"That is beyond the point. Yoko is a kitsune and..." She stopped and frowned. "We'll talk later, first I want to hear from this man just why he deemed it necessary to attack two individuals claiming no village and by all accounts could be mistaken for civilians."

"Like I'll tell you!" He shouted and spat at Boshihari. "Bitch."

Boshihari looked unamused and looked back to Naruto. "This is the perfect opportunity to give you a lesson in interrogation." She plainly stated as she stepped before the ninja she trapped. "Who are you?"

"Your mom's boyfriend!" He snidely commented before howling in pain as the vines tightened and thorns filled nerve toxins stabbed into his body, painfully injecting his body with said poison like an organic needle.

"Each lie will grant a punishment worst than the last." She coldly informed him. "Answer the question."

"Think I'm scared of a woman? Ha! You could never be more of a threat than Orochimaru-sama!" Boshihari rose one eyebrow, the one over her good eye, and a glass shard appeared in her hand.

"I'll be glad to prove you wrong." She spoke as that glass shard suddenly found a new home inside the ninja's thigh where she had impaled him. He shouted in grueling pain as she slowly dragged that shard across his leg and pulled the now red stained fragment out and his pants began to grow a red patch.

"F-fu... AH!" He screamed again as that same shard was stuck in his opposite leg and put through the same injury.

"Next I cut what's in between." She told him with the shard hovering just over his crotch, that look in her eyes telling the man she was serious.

"O-okay... my name is Doyure."

"Why did you attack us?"

"Orochimaru-sama gave orders that anyone found in the area around any base was to be captured for his experiments and whatever squad captured any would get payment and was allowed to use the women as they wished."

"As they wished?" Naruto tilted his head curiously. "What's that mean?"

Boshihari saw the shinobi about to speak and gave him a look that silenced him. "I'll tell you later, Naruto-chan. Now, Doyure, you've caught others for experimentation?" The ninja surprisingly shook his head. "Give me something or I'll chop it off and let you die here, bleeding out of the very part which had you lusting after a monk of the Fire Temple."

"Th-there... in the base... it is a prison for the experiments Orochimaru-sama can't control..." He was sweating profusely. "There are a few dozen Oto nin and 13 experiments there: 5 men, 4 women and 4 children and teenagers."

Boshihari eyed him. "Naruto-chan, you didn't detect a lie, right?" He shook his head. "Me neither." Boshihari looked at Doyure emotionlessly and the shard in her hand suddenly caused him to choke and convulse as it was embedded in his throat on the left side. A single swipe to the right and blood poured from his neck where it was slashed open.

"Naruto-chan, remember this lesson and remember it well. An enemy who has seen your face and seen your style, if let go, can come back to punish you for being weak. In this world of shinobi, there is no good and evil. There are only enemies, those you call allies until they betray you and then there is family. Uzumaki always stick by another, no matter what."

"Hai, Boshi-nee. Nothing is more important to an Uzumaki than family." The one-eyed woman nodded and dropped the shard in the grass as she walked, Naruto just a step behind.

"Now... let's see what Orochimaru is up to. I can feel a mass of signatures not far off that has to be the base. Let's give you another field exam... your first mission you could say."

"What's the mission?" He asked.

"Find the children and teenagers. They could be... useful in our endeavors. I simply hope none of them are psychotic. Then they'd have to be... put out of their misery."

"So, to the base?"

"To the base."


	6. Chapter V: Down the Right Path

**Born of Obsidian**

**Hey all! Yet another chapter of this awesome rewrite! I do hope you like this newest installation of both this story and this arc!**

**Now time to answer some reviews from my wonderful readers.**

**DragonPony022: Psychic much?**

**thor94: Soon, very soon.**

**Chapter V: Down the Right Path**

"Is that it, Boshi-nee?" Naruto asked as they stopped before a large compound where he felt quite a bit of signatures inside. The older Uzumaki nodded.

"This is it, I do believe." She replied, looking at the big, iron, double doors of the base. Two Shadow Clones she had scout the perimeter of it told her there were no windows on the entire base. "The objective is quite simple, Naruto-chan. The Otogakure ninja are to be subdued. Captured if possible but killed if necessary. These... 'experiments' are to be approached with caution. If they attack, subdue them. If they run away, leave them. If one is Uzumaki or of a clan branched from the Uzumaki, it would be best to gain their trust. They are family, after all."

"Hai, Boshi-nee."

"Naruto-chan, this is a high leveled test of your skills." She spoke as she looked at him. "I want you ro do something for me. I used the Spectre mask and just past this door is a corridor running left and right to get to both sides of the base. You take right and I'll go left."

Naruto understood the implications of what he was being told and nodded. "Hai. I will make you proud." Boshihari smiled at him and ruffled his hair.

"You always do." She kneeled before him and touched the blue crystal necklace around his neck which she had given him for his eighth birthday. It looked similar to the green one her own father wore and Tsunade currently possessed. This one had belonged to Tobirama though.

"You will no doubt be great, Naruto-chan. The blood of three Hokage runs through you, the blood of the Senju, Namikaze and Uzumaki is in your veins. You have the potential to outshine even my father and his rival. This ocean crystal, your zanpakuto, Yoko and your Royal Ring, these are your tools to complete this mission. Your skills will keep you alive. Trust your instincts. Trust your abilities. Trust your training."

Naruto nodded. "I will, Boshi-nee." Boshihari smiled as she held that crystal once belonging to her uncle in her right hand.

"Use your advantages and make your enemies pay for their weaknesses." She hugged the boy tightly before standing and turning to the door. "Your mission begins now." And with that she held a ram seal as she focused on melding her Fire, Water and Yang chakra into Acid Style before she spat at the iron doors and the ensuing glob of purplish liquid began to eat at the metallic doors.

In only seconds, the entire thing was gone and the Uzumaki walked inside. Just as Boshihari said, there was a fork immediately at a ninety degree angle to the entrance, one heading left and one right. At the point of divergence Naruto looked up at Boshihari and she looked down at him. "Good luck, Boshi-nee." Naruto said with a smile to her.

She smiled back and ruffled his hair. "Come back to me alive and unijured, Naruto-chan." She said before each turned and walked on their respective paths.

Naruto began walking down his corridor, noticing the flickering lights on the roof, long and tube-like. The corridor itself was greyish and made of stone - or felt like it as he trailed one hand along the wall. His footsteps echoed lightly so he slowed his walking and began walking toe-heel instead of heel-toe - a trick Boshihari taught him that quieted his steps to nearly untacable unless someone had enhanced senses.

He noticed doors on both sides but with no chakra blocking seals, no emotions and no chakra signatures sensable he didn't even bother with them. In fact, he only felt two signatures in this whole corridor... right by each other.

He walked to that very room and saw the door... gone. Not gone, per say. Each of those doors he noticed was solid iron and yet the door for this room had been ripped off its hinges and was on the floor a few feet further, as if it had been thrown. Who could have performed such a feat?

Looking inside the room, Naruto had a guess. There were two occupants. The albino one who looked seven with platinum blonde hair and light purple eyes, a metallic gauntlet on either hand covered in seals - ones he recognized as gravity seals that lightened an object - and mere rags for clothing probably hadn't done it.

The one above her with eyes full of bloodlust probably was. Six and a half feet and bulky with muscles, insanity in amber eyes, messy silver hair and a black shirt with sleeves ripped off as well as ANBU pants cut off at the knee to turn them into shorts, the creature was definitely an experiment. Naruto very much noticed a Juin on the individual's neck.

The experiment's ear twitched as Naruto stepped in the room and quickly turned, roaring ferally as he laid eyes on Naruto. The redhead felt intense Killer Intent and rage from this being - the insanity coming from him as well meant Naruto couldn't even call him human anymore - and had to stop himself from panicking.

He stayed strong thanks to Boshihari's training though and channeled Yang chakra to his ears and eyes, sharpening both senses sharply even as the monstosity dashed at him on all fours.

In response, Naruto formed a ram seal and water in the air formed into tendrils before creating an intricate seal, a Level 4 Barrier Seal that stopped that wild experiment's rush. He shook his head, probably trying to clear the cobwebs from his mind.

This gave Naruto just the opportunity he needed to mold chakra via a chain of three handseals and mix Fire and Earth. **"Lava Style: Congealing Limestone Jutsu!" **He spat out a substance and using his massive affinity to water, caused the air around the experiment to liquefy and mix with the substance he spat until he was covered in concrete.

Naruto couldn't help but smirk a little to himself. That is, until the concrete began to crack. His grin faded as he formed a seal in mid-air of water connected to the pocket dimension he stored all his possessions in before grabbing a naginata of oak and steel he had been learning from his older sister-figure and sensei.

Finally, as he gripped the naginata in two hands, the giant of a man let loose a roar and fragments of concrete flew everywhere as the experiment's rage grew and his murderous intent towards the small boy daring to challenge him rose exponentially. Said boy gripped his weapon as the experiment bagan another rush at him.

As the first punch came, Naruto spun and dragged the point of his blade across the side of the experiment's torso, eliciting a fierce roar and the creature's instinctual reaction to thrash around, knocking the Uzumaki back into a wall. Dazed and hurt from his head hitting concrete, Naruto's focus only came in time for him to widen his eyes as the experiment rushed again.

He felt his heart rate increase exponentially as time slowed a little. Adrenaline coursed through his blood but still, he couldn't move. On the edge of his consciousness, there was same pain on the back of his head and on his ribs. Injuries that would heal momentarily thanks to his Uzumaki Blood's **Sacred Healing **aspect that allowed mere flesh wounds like that to heal in moments. Moments he didn't have.

**"S-Steel Sty-Style: S-Steel Enc-campment Wa-a-all!" **Naruto heard a stuttery voice from his left and a grey wall, two feet thick rose in front of him just in time for the experiment's head to ram into it. This reprieve was all Naruto needed and he stood. He looked at the naginata, or what was left of it.

That crash snapped the oak staff and the steel blade actually bent in hald horizontally. Boshihari had given him that staff... now what was he supposed to do? He shook out of that thought and performed a back handspring, sticking to the vertical wall behind him as the steel structure shot forward.

"Such strength..." Naruto whispered to himself. The beast roared once more and literally tore a chunk of the steel wall before tossing it at Naruto. He jumped from his wall to the one on his left and saw the crater in the wall he was just on - the one opposite the door.

He needed a plan, Naruto realized and quickly wove through handseals. **"Blaze Style: Hellstream!" **With that, he shot a stream of black flames at the creature but was surprised when the flames hit his skin. They... dissipated.

"Ch-chakra doesn't affect K-Kurokyo." The albino girl said from her corner. "Th-that"s one o-of his J-juin's a-ab-abilities." This made Naruto internally curse. No ninjutsu, no fuinjutsu and if he knew any no genjutsu either. His taijutsu was out too since he relied on nintaijutsu in his style. That left only...

**"Bow your head, Wabisuke!" **Naruto called out after he released it from his storage dimension, allowing it to transform into its hooked blade Shikai. Holding it in both hands, Naruto channeled chakra to his blue necklace.

Even as he did, the chakra - though originally normal - transmuted into water chakra before Water Armor materialized aroung him and his zanpakuto. Naruto forced his armor to recede to a thick layer over his feet and legs as he slightly bent his knees. He jumped off and a portion of his Water Armor was used to propel his fast enough to dodge the experiment's fist.

As he had so often done before - so much he was as good as any Inuzuka - Naruto spun in midiar but instead of having his hands forward as usual, he held his sword perpendicular to his body and felt the cold steel taste the experiment's flesh at least three times before he landed on the opposite wall.

The beast was obviously in pain, but that wasn't Naruto's goal. He performed the same maneveur, a double helix of water trailing his wake as he left a shallow gash in the experiment's other side, landing on the wall with what was once the door but only just a hole in the wall the size and shape of a door now.

Naruto did the math in his head quick. This beast had to be at least three hundred pounds of muscle, give or take fifty pounds. Each cut would have doubled his weight and with four, he had to be at least a ton now. The theory was proved correct when the experiment fell to his hands and knees.

This was the point Naruto jumped off once more, Yang chakra used first and a final burst of water at the right moment he used to flip until he stood on the creature's back and placed the hook around the front of the mindless being's neck. "Blood is atonement for your sins. Death forgives your life. Move to the afterlife in peace and find tranquility." He spoke just before jerking up, detaching the moneter's head from his broad shoulders.

He flipped off just as the extremely heavy body crashed to the floor, rising smoke and rubble from the ground. Naruto himself landed wasily and his zanpakuto went back to its unreleased state as he summoned the sheathe from his storage dimension and placed his katana-like zanpakuto within it.

Since there would likely be another battle, Naruto decided to place the sword on his right hip just in case. He then turned his eyes on the albino girl who looked a year younger and smiled to her as he knelt in front of her quivering form in the corner. "You okay?"

She nodded nervously. "A-arigato. Kurokyo surely would have killed me... he must have got out of his c-cell again. After he kills, he falls asleep and the g-guards j-just put him b-back, even th-though when h-he wakes u-up he al-always t-tears through the d-door."

Naruto frowned. "He should have been killed earlier... if for no other reason than mercy. Psychopathy is no way to live. I'm Naruto, by the way."

"H-:h-hibiki." She responded. "Ano... Naruto-nii... why are you h-here?" Naruto stood and offered his hand to the albino.

"Well, my sensei and I were passing by and were ambushed by a dozen or so of the shinobi here. She decided we would kill the Otogakure shinobi and free the experiments within." Hibiki stood with Naruto's help and fidgeted nervously.

"C-could you help me f-find m-my onee-ch-chan?" She asked while looking at the ground. "W-we were to-together b-but th-then she w-was t-taken to a diff-different c-cell t-two days a-ago. I h-haven't s-s-seen her s-since."

Naruto looked at Hibiki and couldn't help but smille. "Sure." Her reaction was immediate and was to wrap her arms around Naruto's waist with such strength he could barely breathe.

When she finally let go, she looked up at him. "If she's on this half of the base, I'll definitely find her."

"A-arigato." The Uzumaki closed his eyes as the albino looked at him. "Wh-what are y-you d-doing?"

"I'm canceling out my sense of sight so my other five senses can temporarily be enhanced. Unlike normal people, I'm a sensor-type. That means I can sense and distinguish between chakra signatures easily, a sixth sense as it were. If I close my eyes I can both increase my range and accuracy in discerning these signatures."

"W-wouldn't y-y-you have t-to k-know h-her ch-chakra s-s-sig-signature though?" Naruto shook his head.

"There are only three signatures here on this side. One of them has to be your onee-chan." Hibiki nodded. "If there's another fight, stay back."

"B-but 8 c-can help..." She mumbled. Naruto opened his eyes and looked at her. "I'm a K-k-kotetsu." Naruto nodded.

"That's why you know the Steel Style. Can you use any offensive jutsu?" Hibiki shook her head.

"I c-can make w-walls and b-bar-barriers." She informed him.

"Then you be my support. I'll attack and you protect me. That is, even if we have to fight." Hibiki nodded and followed after the redhead as he left the cell she had been in.

Unlike Naruto's silent footsteps, Hibiki's were heavy. Not louder than a normal person but heavy like a person walking who didn't have any practice in sneaking. "Hibiki-chan?" She looked up at him. "Why don't you try walking toe-heel?"

At her quizzical look, Naruto expanded. "Walk with your toe stepping to the floor first then let the back of your foot follow."

Hibiki tried what he said, stepping on the front of her foot. It seemed a bit awkward to her and she wondered why he wanted her to do it. "If you walk like that, it's quieter and harder to track." Naruto said as he stopped in front of another iron door.

He then held a ram seal to better mold his water affinity as he created a seal with his favored method. Most used ink and paper, but with the affinity to Suiton he had - one equivalent to if not exceeding both his great-great-grandfather and the Hozuki clan of Kirigakure - as well as his enormous chakra reserves and finely tuned control gained from training, it would be idiotic not to use it for fuinjutsu since he could.

The tendrils of water intersected and crossed atop the surface of the door in such a way as to form an intricate storage seal. At least level six, this one would not only store the iron door elsewhere, but store it in the exact location within Naruto's personal storage dimension he wanted.

As the door disappeared, a single burst of air was all Naruto and Hibiki felt that traveled down the hallway behind them in a burst of speed. "Well... that was one of the experiments. Their chakra signature just sped away."

"S-senko Y-yami." Hibiki said. "Y-yami's J-juin unlocked h-h-her k-k-kekkai g-genkai of s-superhuman sp-speed. She s-saw the ch-chance to leave and l-left." Naruto nodded.

"I would too. Well, let's head to the next door then." They began walkingg once more to the next signature. "Hibiki-chan, why are you here? I thought it was for uncooperative experiments?'

Hibiki's pale face grew red. "I... ano... m-my t-talents aren't i-in off-offensive t-tech-techniques. M-my sk-skill is i-in barr-barriers and w-walls. O-oro-orochimaru s-sent me h-here s-since I w-was useless."

Naruto thought for a moment. "That doesn't make you useless. I know ways to use barriers or walls in offensive ways, but even so without them the majority of my style would be useless. If you don't have any way to defend yourself how can you possibly hope to win a fight?"

He shrugged and shook his head as they reached the second door. "Plus, if your talents are barriers, you'll probably learn Kekkai Fuinjutsu easily."

"Art of Barrier seals?" She asked without a stutter somehow.

"Yeah, watch." Naruto manipulated watery tendrils on the door and a thin blue aura shrouded it. "This one is a barrier that cancels other fuinjutsu on an object. The door contains part of the chakra supression seal that keep chakra from working in them. That's why when the door opens - breaking the seal - the experiments can use their abilities."

Hibiki nodded. "S-so... y-you c-can use s-seals to b-block th-things?"

"That's one way to say it." Naruto answered as he pressed his palms to the door and his hands glowed silver. Slowly walking back, chains materialized connecting the door and him. From those chains more branched out until sixteen chains were attached to the door.

Then instead of pulling, as Hibiki was positive he would do, Naruto channeled Lava chakra through the chakra conducive contructs. The iron door began to burn bright red before it simply melted where it stood and then Naruto caused water in the air to crash over it, rapidly colling it back into iron though it was an oblongly-shaped lump of mass now.

Naruto peeked within this room but was surprised when he saw no one. "That's strange... I was so sure someone was inside... I can't even feel a chakra signature anymore." He stepped inside the cell and sighed.

"N-naruto-nii?" Hibiki stood next to him. "Th-this might b-be R-reika's room. Sh-she had th-the abilities t-to turn in-invisible, s-silent and in-intangible f-for sh-short periods. Wh-when y-you bl-blocked the ch-chakra s-supression s-seal... sh-she pr-probably w-went in-into the floor a-and tu-tunneled un-under the b-b-base."

Naruto nodded. "That only leaves one room then, Hibiki-chan." Naruto noted and motioned her to follow him. She complied easily. "Your onee-chan is probably in it." Hibiki smiled as they stopped in front of the door and suddenly hugged Naruto tight without warning around the waist.

He didn't move a moment but then smiled and completed the embrace, hugging her softly to himself. "A-arigato, N-naruto-niichan!" She thanked him as she let go and looked at the iron door. The seals on her gauntlets began glowing before she thrust them forward, palms still an inch from the door. **"Sound Barrier: Blast!" **She yelled and the air shimmered in front of her as a barrier of what Naruto assumed was the sound barrier she spoke of.

Time seemed to slow for Naruto as he focused on the glowing seal, feeling the chakra along its engraved strokes, piecing together the function it was created for.

Closing his eyes, he pictured the seal in his mind as Boshihari had forced him to do on more than a few occasions to see a seal in his mind and analyze it. It was a barrier seal... cross-connected with an elemental matrix seal which turned normal chakra channeled into it into lightning and wind with equal parts of each before melding them. The new element - sound - then was formed into a barrier as it was released.

He opened his eyes and felt the sound-natured construct still moving as time went normal once more to him and the door bent at the point of impact before falling inwards and hitting the floor with an echoing crash as it rose of rubble and smoke.

Within, Naruto felt the signature: high reserves, high control and extreme affinity to Water, Yin and Yang. Those could only mean one thing...

"Nee-chan!" Hibiki said happily as the smoke settled to reveal a girl probably a year Naruto's senior. She had blood-red hair, crimson eyes behind slim glasses and wore a purple coat that ended just paster her knees and shorts of the same shade. The girl and Naruto looked at one another with Hibiki smiling wider before she rushed the female redhead and hugged her tight. "You're okay, nee-chan! I was so worried! But Naruto-nii here helped me find you after he saved me from Kurokyo!"

Each noticed the girl hadn't stuttered at all. "Naruto?" She asked and said boy waved.

"Uzumaki-Namikaze-Senju Naruto, at your service." He said with a foxy grin and a small nod of his head. The other girl's eyes widened a bit.

"I'm Uzumaki Karin." At that, Naruto's own eyes were widened as well.

"U-uzumaki?"

**And that's it!**

**Naruto found Hibiki and Karin on his very first "mission"! Both are majorly important, but not in the way of pairing.**

**Wonder what's going on with Boshihari-sensei?**

**Now, let me make a few points known that have been bothering me.**

**Pairing: I have said many times Naruto will be with Haku. Not Boshihari. Not Karin. HAKU! Please stop requesting him for other pairings and no one suggest a harem. I hate those reviews the most. No harem. No other girls. Naruto will only be with Haku in this story.**

**Zanpakuto: Yes, Naruto has four. But it's not as if I'm giving him Bankai in one, let alone all four, before canon even starts. He has one shikai right now and it shall remain that way for a bit. And even if he gains Shikai on others or once he gains Bankai he still has to train in his sword's abilities. So he's not OP since, if the Madara and Kaguya arcs were anything to go by, there are some opponents that are simply so strong he would have to use Bankai just to keep up post-Timeskip.**

**Elemental Natures: Fire, Earth, Water, Yin and Yang. Yes, he has five of the seven basic natures but it's not as if he has control over all the sub-elements yet and the only one he has high level manipulation of is water because of both Uzumaki DNA and his descendence from Tobirama. Now, in the future he will have some badass jutsu from all his affinities and sub-elemental natures but I'm talking Shippuden timeframe so stop insinuating that he's going to be god-level pre-timeskip. You know who you are.**

**Boshihari's comments on the Uchiha clan: Now... I really thought this could slide, but some guest too scared to post from their actual FF account had the nerve to say I was bashing the Uchiha clan and overpowering the Uzumaki clan. While I generally ignore flames... I couldn't stand this. Boshihari is literal royalty, even more than Tsunade, and she has had to stand by as her family was murdered. Her psychology is pro-Uzumaki anti-everyone else. It's called character development.**

**Uzumaki vs. Uchiha: Again, the guest suggested something along the lines of "if the Uzumaki were so powerful, why did they all die?" but seemed pro-Uchiha. So, let's make a comparison, shall we? The Uchiha died by the hands of a small group even with their "all-powerful Sharingan". The Uzumaki clan were attacked by the forces of THREE of the Five Great Villages, and killed every single opposing ninja despite the fact they were heavily outnumbered and all without the aid of any, I repeat ANY, dojutsu. That's canon, not fanon, for you.**

**Okay... my rant is over. Just had to get that out. Just one last thing to say to you, my wonderful readers (even the flamers are wonderful because you love me enough to tell me what I did wrong).**

**Orpheus out! Ja ne!**


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